That “controversial rapper” is Antonio Delgado, who has pledged to fight for universal, affordable healthcare for all, a tax code that works for working people and the middle class, and to restore opportunity” for individuals “across the Hudson Valley, Catskills and Capital region,” according to his website.

The Post notes:

Delgado, who is challenging first-term GOP Rep. John Faso in the Hudson Valley and Catskills region, released an 18-song CD in 2006 titled “Painfully Free.”

In it, Delgado, a Schenectady native, spews the N-word, compares “dead” presidents to “white supremacists” and blasts the country’s two-party political system.

The Post‘s headline was immediately decried as racist. None of the other candidates on Obama’s list––which includes a host of women and people of color––have faced such scrutiny, or been subject to questionable headlines.

https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1024886403891490816

Several people pointed out that Delgado is a Rhodes scholar and graduate of Harvard Law School.

The headline should have read " Former President Barack Obama endorses Rhodes Scholar Antonio Delgado from New York State for congress" Simple, but they had to degrade him first! By the way Antonio Delgado is a graduate from Oxford University (UK) and Harvard University

Delgado himself has not commented on the Post‘s headline, but he did take the time to thank Obama for endorsing him.

Delgado said he is “Honored and truly humbled” by the endorsement, adding that Obama “stands for so many of the values that we hold as our foundation,” including “preserving and improving our democracy” and “a commitment to service.”

Honored and truly humbled to receive an endorsement from @BarackObama. He stands for so many of the values that we hold as our foundation – preserving and improving our democracy, a commitment to service, hard work, and the promotion of dignity and respect for everyone. https://t.co/n2i0xGrjKO

Obama’s announcement included only his first round of Democratic endorsements. There will be more to come, particularly as we get closer to November’s midterm elections.

“Today I’m proud to endorse such a wide and impressive array of Democratic candidates – leaders as diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted as the America they’re running to represent,” Obama wrote yesterday.

Today I’m proud to endorse such a wide and impressive array of Democratic candidates – leaders as diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted as the America they’re running to represent: pic.twitter.com/gWzalQhFas

Obama added that the individuals he’s endorsed would “strengthen this country we love by restoring opportunity, repairing our alliances and standing in the world, and upholding our fundamental commitment to justice, fairness, responsibility, and the rule of law.”

I’m confident that, together, they’ll strengthen this country we love by restoring opportunity, repairing our alliances and standing in the world, and upholding our fundamental commitment to justice, fairness, responsibility, and the rule of law. But first, they need our votes.

Notable figures on the list include Jared Polis, who is running for Governor of Colorado and, if elected, would be the first openly gay governor in the United States, and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, who is the first black female major party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. Both of them are popular in their respective states.